South Africa's New Rapidly-Spreading COVID-19 Variant Makes Its Way to the UK .<br />It appears to be more transmissible and is <br />independent from the new variant that <br />recently emerged in the U.K.<br />However, it does feature a mutation similar to the new coronavirus strain in the U.K.<br />Both strains have a mutation <br />in the spike glycoprotein, .<br />which experts believe allows the <br />virus to spread more easily.<br />Zweli Mkhize, South Africa's health minister, .<br />said more young people appear to be getting severely ill from the new variant.<br />Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Germany, and Switzerland have already stopped flights to and from South Africa.<br />On Dec. 23, Britain’s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced that South Africa's new variant had made its way to the U.K. via two people who had recently traveled to the country.<br />Hancock said South Africa's variant <br />"appears to have mutated further than <br />the new variant that was discovered in the U.K."
